ir 
T 

5 

1. 


r 

r 
? 


A  Retrospect; 
nd  a  Prosped;" 


Commencement  Addiess  of 
HON.  FRANK  H:^ORCROSS, 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court     '      ''  ' 


^Delivered  at  the  University  of  Nevada 
May  17,  1911,  upon  the  occasion  of  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  establish- 
ment   of   the    State    University    at    Reno. 


^Published  by  request  of  the  State 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 


<- /^,^-i.fc-. 


Bancfoh  Libraxy 


A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT 


Mr.  President  and  Friends  of  the  University: 

"  A  mighty  hand  from  an  exhaustless  urn 
Pours  forth  the  never-ending  flood  of  years." 
A  quarter  of  a  century  may  be  regarded  a  long  or  short  period 
of  time,  depending  upon  the  relation  which  that  period  bears  to  cer- 
tain other  historical  events.  It  is  a  very  short  time  of  the  world's 
recorded  history.  It  is  relatively  a  short  time  in  the  life  of  the  older 
American  colleges.  Harvard  College  was  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  old  the  year  the  University  of  Nevada  was  established  in  Reno. 
James  Russell  Lowell,  delivering  the  address  at  Cambridge  upon 
that  anniversary,  observed  that  the  occasion  was  "not  remarkable  as 
commemorating  any  venerable  length  of  days."  There  were  colleges 
in  Europe  half  a  thousand  years  old  before  Harvard  first  saw  the 
light  of  day.  The  last  twenty-five  years,  however,  have  witnessed 
great  progress  in  the  material,  intellectual  and  moral  advancement 
of  the  world.  A  great  many  centuries  of  history  could  be  grouped 
together  and,  so  far  as  the  promotion  of  the  world's  civilization  is 
concerned,  could  scarcely  be  considered  in  comparison  with  what  the 
past  twenty-five  years  have  accomplished.  Twenty-five  years  is  a 
generation  in  the  life  of  man,  and  this  particular  generation  has 
achieved  more  than  any  other  generation  that  ever  preceded  it. 
Twenty-five  years  covers  no  insignificant  part  of  the  history  of  our 
country,  while  it  represents  more  than  half  of  the  history  of  our 
State.  It  is  nearly  half  the  time  which  has  elapsed  since,  by  the 
treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  concluding  the  Mexican  War,  this  vast 
western  country,  of  which  Nevada  is  a  part,  was  ceded  to  the  United 
States.  It  is  exactly  half  of  the  period  of  time  which  has  intervened 
since  the  first  gun  was  fired  upon  Fort  Sumter,  an  event  m  our 
country's  history  to  which  this  University  may  trace,  without  much 
indirection,  its  origin.  We  may  find  then  sufficient  occasion  for  a 
special  observation  of  the  successful  conclusion  of  the  first  quarter  of 
a  century  which  has  elapsed  since  this  University  was  established  in 
its  permanent  home  at  Reno.  This  is  an  occasion,  I  take  it,  when 
we  may  with  profit  turn  back  the  pages  of  our  history  for  the  pur- 
pose, if  for  none  other,  of  seeing  if  we  may  find  therein  an  earnest 
of  what  we  may  expect  for  the  future.  If  the  past  has  been  one  of 
hard  struggle  and  glorious  achievement,  so  may  we  expect  the  future 
to  be  one  of  unabated  effort  and  greater  accomplishment.  A  State 
University  is  a  part  of  the  State  Government— the  most  valuable 
part.  Its  history  is  comprehended  within  the  larger  history  of  the 
State,  and  that  history  must  of  necessity  have  left  its  impress  upon 


4  A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT 

the  University.  The  student  who  does  not  have  a  pride  in  the 
history  of  his  Nation,  his  State,  and  his  University  will  never  get  the 
best  out  of  his  opportunities,  and  it  is  certain  the  State  will  never 
get  the  best  in  return  from  him. 

Who  made  this  State  and  this  University  what  it  is?  Of  what 
kind  of  clay  were  molded  the  pioneers  who,  in  1864,  organized  a 
State  upon  a  foundation  of  barren,  rock-ribbed,  wind-swept,  and 
sunburnt  mountains,  of  sagebrush  valleys  and  of  dreary  desert 
wastes,  who  wrote. into  the  Constitution  of  this  State  the  motto,  "All 
for  our  Country,"  and,  at  the  same  time  they  thus  pledged  their  fealty 
to  the  Nation,  then  undergoing  the  supreme  test,  made,  as  a  part  of 
the  organic  law,  provision  for  a  public  school  system  that  is  unex- 
celled, a  part  of  which  is  this  splendid  University  we  see  here  today? 

"  In  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope!" 

The  struggle  with  the  elements  for  a  home  and  fortune  makes 
strong  characters,  and  they  were  strong  characters  who  made  a  State 
from  the  Territory  of  Nevada.  There  is  nothing  else  so  alluring  to 
men  of  energy,  daring  and  perseverance  as  the  quest  of  the  precious 
metals.  It  was  the  gold  in  the  gulches  and  ravines  of  California 
which  in  '49  and  the  '50' s  caused  stalwart  Americans  all  over  the 
land  to  leave  their  offices,  their  workshops,  their  farms,  their  col- 
leges, and  turn  their  faces  westward  and  pursue  the  long,  tiresome 
and  perilous  journey  across  the  plains  or  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  or 
around  The  Horn  to  the  Golden  Gate.  It  was  the  silver  in  the  veins 
and  ledges  of  Nevada,  a  decade  later,  that  turned  the  tide  of  these 
modern  Argonauts  back  across  the  Sierras,  to  a  part  of  what  was 
then  known  as  the  Great  American  Desert.  The  rush  of  population 
to  western  Utah,  caused  by  the  discovery  of  the  Comstock  Lode  and 
other  great  mines  with  the  accompanying  production  of  precious 
metals,  then  doubly  valuable  to  the  Nation,  made  a  new  territorial 
government  a  necessity  and  the  Territory  of  Nevada  was  created. 
President  Lincoln  appointed  James  W.  Nye  Territorial  Governor  and 
Orion  Clemens,  brother  of  Mark  Twain,  Territorial  Secretary.  The 
appointment  of  Governor  Nye  was  an  exhibition  of  the  wisdom  and 
foresight  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  We  of  this  day,  I  fear,  do  not  fully  appre- 
ciate the  commanding  figure  of  Governor  Nye  in  the  history  of  this 
State.  Nye  was  one  of  the  most  gifted  and  persuasive  orators  in  the 
United  States  of  his  time.  He  was  a  man  of  varied  experience,  a 
lawyer  by  profession  from  the  State  of  New  York,  who  had  served 
upon  the  Bench  of  his  native  State  and  also  as  the  first  president  of 
the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Police  of  New  York  City.  W^ith  William 
H.  Seward,  he  had  traveled  on  a  stumping  tour  of  the  Western 
States  in  the  first  Lincoln  campaign.  He  was  destined  to  play  no 
small  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  W^ith  Thomas  Starr 
King,  the  orator-clergyman  of  San  Francisco,  he  is  mentioned  as 
doing  valiant  service  in  keeping  the  Pacific  Coast  States  and  Terri- 
tories steadfast  for  the  Union  cause  during  the  Great  Rebellion. 
The  political  necessities  growing  out  of  the  Civil  War  caused  Presi- 


A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT  5 

dent  Lincoln  to  deem  the  admission  of  the  Territory  of  Nevada  into 
the  Union  as  a  State  a  matter  of  the  very  greatest  importance.  His 
administration  had  determined  that  the  Constitution  should  be 
amended  so  that  slavery  should  be  abolished. 

"This,"  says  Mr.  Charles  A.  Dana,  in  his  hook— RecoUectionfi  of 
the  Civil  War — "was  not  only  a  change  in  our  national  policy;  it 
was  also  a  most  important  military  measure.  It  was  intended,  not 
merely  as  a  means  of  abolishing  slavery  forever,  but  as  a  means  of 
affecting  the  judgment  and  the  feelings  of  those  in  rebellion.  It  was 
believed  that  such  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  would  be 
equivalent  to  new  armies  in  the  field;  that  it  would  be  worth  at  least 
a  million  men;  that  it  would  be  an  intellectual  army  that  would  tend 
to  paralyze  the  enemy  and  break  the  continuity  of  his  ideas." 

To  thus  amend  the  Constitution  required  that  the  proposed  amend- 
ment be  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the  States.  When  that  question 
came  to  be  considered,  the  administration  found  that,  of  the  States  it 
could  rely  upon,  it  was  one  short  of  the  necessary  number.  The  genius 
of  President  Lincoln  solved  the  problem.  He  would  create  a  State 
out  of  the  Territory  of  Nevada  for  the  purpose,  and  rely  on  the 
patriotism  of  her  people  to  ratify  the  amendment.  In  March,  1864, 
the  question  of  allowing  Nevada  to  form  a  State  Government  came 
up  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  There  was  strong  opposition  to 
it,  but  Mr.  Lincoln  threw  into  the  breach  the  potent  force  of  the 
administration  and  the  measure  was  carried.  Mr.  Dana,  then  Assist- 
ant Secretary  of  War  and  one  of  the  President's  confidential  advisers, 
quotes  Mr.  Lincoln  as  saying,  shortly  before  the  vote  was  taken: 
"  Here  is  the  alternative — that  we  carry  this  vote,  or  be  compelled  to 
raise  another  million,  and  I  don't  know  how^  many  more,  men,  and 
fight,  no  one  knows  how  long." 

When  great  political  questions  are  in  the  balance,  sometimes 
events  follow  each  other  with  remarkable  rapidity.  On  the  21st  day 
of  March,  1864,  the  enabling  Act  for  Nevada  passed  Congress  and  was 
approved  by  President  Lincoln.  The  Act  provided  for  an  election  to 
be  held  on  the  first  Monday  of  June  following,  for  delegates  to  a  con- 
stitutional convention  to  be  held  just  one  month  later.  The  conven- 
tion met  on  the  4th  day  of  July,  1864,  adopted  a  proposed  constitution, 
which,  by  the  terms  of  the  enabling  Act,  was  voted  upon  and  approved 
by  the  people  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  the  following  September.  As 
soon  as  the  vote  could  be  canvassed,  a  copy  of  the  Constitution  was 
transmitted  to  the  President  by  telegraph,  at  a  cost  of  more  than 
thirty-four  hundred  dollars  for  the  one  dispatch.  (We  may  observe 
here  in  passing  that  there  has  been  material  progress  in  the  reduction 
of  telegraph  tariffs  since  that  time.)  By  the  terms  of  the  enabling 
Act,  the  approval  of  the  Constitution  was  placed  exclusively  with  the 
President.  On  the  31st  day  of  October,  President  Lincoln  issued  his 
proclamation  declaring  Nevada  admitted  into  the  Union  on  an  equal 
footing  with  the  original  States.  Eight  days  later  an  election  for  state 
and  county  officers  was  held  and  the  newly  elected  officials  assumed 
their  duties  on  the  first  Monday  in  December.  On  the  1st  day  of 
February,  1865,  Congress  submitted  to  the  several  States  the  Thir- 


Q  A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT 

teenth  Amendment,  and  two  weeks  later  it  was  ratified  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  new  State  of  Nevada.  Well  may  Nevada  be  called  the 
Battle-Born  State  and  this  the  Battle-Born  University,  for,  had  not 
any  one  of  our  three  greatest  wars  been  fought,  the  occasion  for  this 
magnificent  assemblage  would  not  have  existed. 

It  is  interesting  and  instructive  to  note  the  body  of  men  who 
composed  the  convention  that  framed  our  State  Constitution.  Of  the 
thirty-five  delegates  all  but  two  came  to  Nevada  from  California,  and 
all  but  three  had  come  to  California  before  1860.  The  number  eleven 
seems  to  have  been  a  number  to  conjure  with  in  that  convention. 
There  were  eleven  "Forty-Niners";  eleven  lawyers;  eleven  natives  of 
the  State  of  New  York;  eleven  counties  were  represented;  eleven 
States  contributed  to  its  membership,  and  the  average  prior  residence 
upon  the  Pacific  Coast  of  all  the  delegates  was  eleven  years.  The 
article  relating  to  education  and  the  creation  of  this  University  is 
numbered  eleven.  If  there  is  anything  in  omens,  our  University 
eleven  ought  to  be  invincible. 

There  were  represented  in  that  convention  lawyers,  doctors,  bank- 
ers, miners,  farmers,  lumbermen,  merchants,  editors,  surveyors,  and 
artisans.  It  was  a  representative  body  of  Pacific  Coast  Pioneers. 
Men  of  character,  ability,  integrity,  fortitude  and  energy.  They  real- 
ized that  they  had  been  called  upon  to  play  an  important  part  in  the 
great  struggle  that  was  then  testing  the  life  of  the  Nation.  They  knew 
that  Nevada  at  that  time  possessed  little  that  ordinarily  is  considered 
essential  to  make  a  State— a  shifting  and  uncertain  population,  gath- 
ered mainly  around  a  few  mining  camps,  was  nearly  all.  The  very 
wealth  which  Nature  had  secreted  in  the  hills  was  to  be  taken  out  and 
removed  to  other  more  attractive  climes.  Railroads  there  were  none, 
the  nearest  railroad  point  then  being  twelve  hundred  miles  away. 
The  telegraph  had  arrived,  but  the  ox  and  mule  team,  the  stage  and 
the  pony  express  were  destined  to  be  the  mode  of  travel  and  com- 
munication and  the  only  avenue  of  commerce  for  some  years  to  come. 
A  few,  who  were  not  entirely  blinded  by  the  lure  of  gold  and  silver, 
saw  in  agriculture  and  kindred  pursuits  a  slower,  more  modest,  but 
more  certain,  fortune.  The  most  accessible  waterways  were  applied 
in  a  crude  way  to  irrigation,  and  agriculture,  that  industry  which 
must  eventually  share  equally  at  least  with  mining  in  the  permanent 
greatness  of  our  State,  had  its  beginning. 

The  convention  of  1864,  in  preparing  a  constitution,  of  necessity 
builded  for  the  future  rather  than  for  the  present.  With  the  fore- 
sight of  true  statesmen,  they  framed  an  organic  Act  that  was  designed 
not  only  to  accomplish  the  immediate  purpose  of  Statehood  as  a  legal 
entity,  but  one  which  was  broad  and  comprehensive  in  its  scope,  as 
is  evidenced  by  the  provisions  for  a  public  school  system,  the  real 
foundation-stone  of  the  true  greatness  of  any  State.  One  entire 
article  was  devoted  to  the  subject  of  education.  No  other  article  of 
the  Constitution  better  illustrates  the  foresight  of  those  pioneer  State- 
builders.  They  provided  the  means  for  a  splendid  common  school 
system;  for  a  normal  school  for  the  education  of  teachers,  and  a  uni- 
versity which,  by  express  provision,  should  embrace  "departments  of 


A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT  7 

agriculture,  mechanic  arts  and  mining"— three  branches  of  learning 
which  were  deemed  would  prove  most  valuable  to  the  people  in  the 
development  of  the  State's  natural  resources. 

It  is  also  interesting  and  instructive  at  this  day  to  read  the 
debates  in  that  convention,  particularly  upon  the  subject  of  educa- 
tion. The  carefulness  with  which  the  subject  was  considered,  the 
time  devoted  to  it  and  the  purpose  manifested,  not  only  to  mak^  pro- 
vision for  the  future,  but  to  determine  in  advance  that  certain  lines 
of  instruction  of  practical  advantage  in  the  development  of  this  new 
country  should  be  given  prominence. 

The  following  remarks  made  by  a  delegate  from  Washoe  County 
will  serve  somewhat  to  illustrate  conditions,  educational  and  other- 
wise, which  existed  in  Nevada  forty-six  years  ago  when  our  Consti- 
tution was  under  consideration  and  the  future  university  under 
discussion:  "I  do  not  anticipate  as  much  advantage  from  a  state 
college  as  other  gentlemen  seem  to.  It  is  true  that  we  appear  to  have 
peculiar  facilities  here  for  a  mining  college — more,  probably,  than  in 
any  other  place  in  the  world— and  if  everything  here  proposed  were 
going  to  that,  I  would  be  strongly  in  favor  of  it.  But  when  we  come 
to  speak  about  establishing  a  college  in  general,  in  which  the  ordi- 
nary branches  of  a  collegiate  education  are  taught,  I  must  say,  while 
I  would  be  very  glad  to  see  it  prosper,  I  have  but  little  faith  in  it.  It 
is  too  easy  to  reach  other  regions,  where  grass  grows,  to  be  trodden 
under  the  feet  of  the  pupils,  and  trees  to  wave  over  their  heads  and 
where  they  do  not  have  to  drink  in  alkali,  like  the  bitter  waters  of 
Marah." 

We  may  forgive  the  then  representative  of  the  county  in  which  is 
now  the  seat  of  the  University  for  the  views  he  expressed,  for  he  was 
the  only  "tenderfoot"  in  the  convention,  having  come  to  Nevada  from 
"Back  East"  (Minnesota)  only  the  year  previous,  and  his  faith  was 
not  yet  well  grounded.  He  had  still  to  learn  that  the  sagebrush 
was  holding  but  temporary  occupancy  of  the  soil  until,  under  the 
wise  plan  of  the  Creator  of  the  Universe,  it  should  surrender  perma- 
nent possession  to  the  corn  of  nourishment,  the  wine  of  refreshment, 
and  the  oil  of  joy.  Then,  too,  those  remarks  were  made  four  years 
before  the  City  of  Reno  had  its  birth.  Doubtless  none  of  those 
pioneer  State-builders  in  their  most  vivid  imagination  ever  pictured  a 
scene  of  beauty  such  as  we  see  here  today.  The  green  verdure  is 
here  to  be  trodden  under  the  feet  of  the  students,  the  trees  to  wave 
over  their  heads,  pure  water  to  drink,  fresh  from  Nature's  reservoirs 
of  snow,  and,  surrounding  all,  the  eternal  mountain  peaks,  ever  an 
inspiration  to  higher  thoughts,  to  nobler  deeds,  to  greater  aspirations. 

Nevada  fulfilled  the  political  purpose  which  brought  about  its 
creation.  It  did  more.  The  half  billion  dollars  of  precious  metals 
which  it  turned  into  the  lap  of  the  Nation  during  the  years  of  the  war 
and  in  the  decade  immediately  following,  not  only  went  far  to  main- 
tain the  credit  of  the  country  and  enable  it  to  resume  specie  payments 
at  least  a  decade  sooner  than  it  otherwise  could,  but  the  precious 
metals  from  Nevada  mines  have  played  no  small  part  in  the  progress 
of  the  world.     It  is  impossible  to  estimate  or  even  imagine  what  has 


g  A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT 

been  accomplished,  is  being  accomplished,  and  will  continue  through 
all  time  to  be  accomplished  by  the  gold  and  silver  which  Nevada's 
mines  have  produced.  We  know  something  of  what  a  portion  of 
that  wealth  hae  accomplished  under  the  direction  of  one  master-mind, 
that  of  John  W.  Mackay.  We  know  how  he,  through  its  medium, 
has  brought  the  people  of  all  nations  into  closer  communication  and 
in  closer  relations,  and  how,  through  that  same  medium,  his  son  and 
successor  is  today  extending  that  great  instrumentality  of  civilization. 
Gold  and  silver  coins  may  be  regarded  as  the  red  and  white  cor- 
puscles of  the  life-blood  of  the  world,  and  Nevada  has  been,  and  still 
is,  one  of  the  great  storehouses  of  the  life-giving  element. 

Such,  in  brief,  has  been  the  general  history  of  our  State.  It  is  a 
history  of  which  no  Nevadan  need  ever  be  ashamed,  but  on  the  con- 
trary may  be  one  of  just  pride.  Small  in  population  as  Nevada  is, 
its  influence  has  been  potent  in  the  affairs  of  the  Nation  and  the 
world  at  large.  It  has  freely  yielded  to  the  world  the  millions  of 
dollars  in  precious  metals  its  mines  have  produced.  They,  by  their 
inherent  properties,  belong  to  the  world.  The  great  Architect  of  the 
Universe  placed  them  in  our  hills  for  a  purpose,  and  that  purpose 
was  a  larger  one  than  can  be  bounded  by  States  or  countries.  We 
could  not  hold  them  if  we  would;  we  would  not  if  we  could.  While 
our  wealth  of  metals  was  not  ours  to  keep,  there  was  provided  a  com- 
pensation for  their  loss.  Nature  lavishly  gave  others  of  her  choicest 
gifts,  but  she  made  such  disposition  of  some  of  them  that  before  they 
may  be  fully  possessed  and  enjoyed  there  must  be  expended  the 
highest  order  of  man's  energy  and  genius — conditions  which  make 
for  a  people  the  strongest,  noblest  and  best  in  character. 

The  history  of  the  State  has  been  the  history  of  this  University, 
one  of  struggle  against  obstacles,  one  of  triumph  over  difficulties. 
As  our  State  came  into  existence,  that  there  might  be  written  into 
the  organic  law  of  the  Nation  the  truth,  enumerated  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  that  all  men  are  endowed  by  the  Creator  with 
the  inalienable  rights  of  life  and  liberty,  so  this  University  came  into 
existence  as  a  natural  sequence  of  Statehood,  impressed  with  the 
responsibility  that,  so  far  as  the  people  of  this  State  were  concerned, 
it  should  be  the  means  of  transmitting  unimpaired  to  future  genera- 
tions an  appreciation  of  the  high  responsibilities  which  they  owed  to 
the  State,  the  Nation,  and  to  humanity  in  general. 

"Peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  than  war,"  is  a  familiar  quota- 
tion. While  we  owe  our  existence  to  war,  our  triumphs  must  be  in 
peaceful  struggles  to  attain  our  highest  development. 

To  one  who  has  watched  the  growth  of  this  University  from  the 
beginning,  today  is  one  of  deep  significance,  both  to  the  University 
and  to  the  State.  One  cannot  be  a  witness  of  the  proceedings  of 
this  day  without  absorbing  a  renewed  confidence  for  the  future  of 
Nevada,  and  having  a  feeling  that  in  this  University  lies  the  fountain- 
head  for  the  future  greatness  of  the  State;  that  from  here  is  to  come 
an  influence  all-potent  for  development  to  a  higher  plane,  socially, 
morally,  and  materially. 

It  is  on  occasions  of  this  kind  that  we  note  progress.     Some  of 


A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT  9 

us  here  today  know  full  well  what  this  University  has  accomplished 
during  the  past  twenty-five  years.  Some  there  are  who  enrolled  their 
names  as  students  twenty-five  years  ago.  The  number  was  not  large. 
Few,  if  any,  had  any  conception  of  what  a  university  or  college  was 
like.  The  faculty  was  small,  and  the  material  was  the  rawest  of  the 
raw.  It  was  the  planting  of  the  acorn.  The  faculty  taught  what 
they  could  best  teach,  and  the  students  absorbed  to  the  best  of  their 
ability  what  was  offered  for  their  consumption.  The  pioneer  stu- 
dents had  inherited  not  a  httle  of  the  characteristics  of  their  pioneer 
parents,  and  not  the  least  of  the  most  valuable  lessons  they  learned 
was  that  of  making  the  best  of  conditions  as  they  existed.  The  stu- 
dents somehow  managed  to  get  a  good  deal  of  what  they  needed 
most.  While  the  course  of  study  necessarily  had  its  limitations,  it 
was  practical  and  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  students  and  the  condi- 
tions of  the  State.  From  the  beginning  the  graduates  of  this  Uni- 
versity have  been  able  to  hold  their  own  in  competition  with  their 
brothers  from  the  more  noted  colleges  in  the  practical  affairs  of  life 
requiring  technical  training,  skill  and  ability.  Possibly  we  may  not 
for  some  time  produce  a  graduate  who  will  become  distinguished  in 
literature  or  art.  I  hope  we  shall,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  we 
should  not.  If,  however,  we  produce  graduates  who  will  solve  the 
problem  of  reclaiming  the  sagebrush  valleys  of  Nevada,  and  making 
them  the  abode  of  a  prosperous  people,  the  University  will  have 
achieved  something  of  the  success  its  founders  hoped  for.  Some  of 
our  graduates  have  already  grappled  with  that  problem,  and  they 
intend  to  succeed.  The  dramatist  put  in  the  mouth  of  Cardinal 
Richelieu  the  words:  "In  the  bright  lexicon  of  youth,  there  is  no 
such  word  as  fail."  So  be  it.  The  graduates  of  this  University  are 
all  in  the  youthful  class. 

The  students  who  graduated  during  the  first  years  of  this  Univer- 
sity, before  it  could  be  said  to  be  equipped  to  do  the  real  work  of  a 
university,  received  an  education  which  enabled  them  to  successfully 
engage  in  the  battles  of  real  life.  All  realized  they  were  deficient  in 
many  particulars.  They  learned  later,  thanks  to  the  embryo  faculty, 
that  they  had  acquired  a  good  foundation  in  many  of  the  subjects 
that  this  busy  workaday  world  uses  in  the  practical  affairs  of  life. 
While  their  opportunities  were  limited  for  delving  into  the  classic 
realms  of  the  dim  and  distant  past,  by  the  agency  of  the  unburied 
dead,  they  grasped  the  things  the  knowledge  of  which  made  for  suc- 
cess in  the  expiring  years  of  .the  Nineteenth  Century  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Twentieth.  fiascvoft  Ubmy 

The  later  graduates,  time  considered,  have  been  doing  as  well  as 
their  predecessors.  All  over  this  State  and  outside  of  the  State  they 
have  been  and  are  doing  first-class  work.  This  leads  me  to  the  con- 
clusion that  this  University  has  been  and  is  now  fulfilling  the  wise 
purpose  designed  for  it  by  the  framers  of  our  Constitution.  It  is  a 
practical  university.  When  the  pioneer  founders  of  this  State 
embodied  in  the  Constitution  a  provision  that  a  university  should  be 
established  which  should  embrace  departments  of  mining,  agriculture 
and  mechanic  arts,  I  believe  thev  builded  better  than  they  knew. 


IQ  A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT 

They  intended  that  the  University  should  be  a  practical  university; 
that  primarily  it  should  fit  the  young  men  and  women  of  Nevada 
with  the  means  of  making  a  livelihood  in  this  busy,  material  age, 
when  civilization  was  being  promoted  by  science  and  industry  faster 
than  it  ever  had  been  in  the  classic  ages  of  old;  that  it  should  be,  first 
of  all,  an  aid  to  the  State  in  solving  the  fundamental  problems  of  state 
development  which  only  minds,  trained  in  the  modern  arts  and 
sciences,  could  solve.  This  University  doubtless  will  never  have  great 
numbers  of  students.  It  may  never  be  famous  as  a  seat  of  classic 
learning.  But  it  can  be  the  most  practical  university  in  America. 
We  owe  it  to  our  honored  benefactors  as  well  as  to  ourselves  to  make 
the  Mackay  School  of  Mines  the  best  mining  school  in  the  world.  The 
University  can  and  must  be  second  to  none  in  the  instruction  it  is 
enabled  to  impart  in  agriculture  and  all  the  applied  sciences.  In 
addition  to  this  it  must  be  able  to  impart  a  liberal  education  in 
English,  the  modern  languages,  in  literature,  history,  and  the  science 
of  government.  For  those  who  feel  they  must  have  them,  and  for 
those  who  really  need  them,  I  hope  the  opportunity  may  always  exist 
for  the  pursuing  of  a  study  of  the  dead  languages,  providing,  always, 
that  the  student  body  shall  never  be  compelled  to  sacrifice  a  greater 
means  of  knowledge  of  the  living  present,  to  gain  a  superficial  con- 
ception of  these  scholastic  heirlooms.  I  have  no  fear,  however,  that 
the  occasion  will  ever  arise  which  shall  find  justification  for  a  gradu- 
ate of  this  University  to  return  to  his  Alma  Mater  and  say,  as  did  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  graduates  of  Harvard,  in  dehvering  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  oration  at  that  university  but  three  years  before  this 
University  was  established  in  Reno,  say: 

I  am  glad  that  I  came  here,  and  glad  that  I  took  my 
degree.  But  as  a  training-place  for  youth  to  enable  them 
to  engage  to  advantage  in  the  struggle  of  life,  to  fit  them  to 
hold  their  own  in  it  and  to  carry  off  the  prizes,  I  must  in  all 
honesty  say  that,  looking  back  through  the  years  and  recall- 
ing the  requirements  and  methods  of  the  ancient  institution, 
I  am  unable  to  speak  of  it  with  all  the  respect  I  could  wish. 
Such  training  as  I  got,  useful  for  the  struggle,  I  got  after 
instead  of  before  graduation,  and  it  came  hard;  while  I 
never  have  been  able — and  now,  no  matter  how  long  I  may 
live,  I  never  shall  be  able— to  overcome  some  great  disad- 
vantages which  the  superstitions  and  wrong  theories  and 
worse  practices  of  my  Alma  Mater  inflicted  upon  me. 

And  not  on  me  alone.  The  same  may  be  said  of  my 
contemporaries,  as  I  have  observed  them  in  success  and  fail- 
ure. What  was  true  in  this  respect  of  the  college  of  thirty 
years  ago  is,  I  apprehend,  at  least  partially  true  of  the  col- 
lege of  today;  and  it  is  true,  not  only  of  Cambridge,  but  of 
other  colleges,  and  of  them  quite  as  much  as  of  Cambridge. 
They  fail  properly  to  fit  their  graduates  for  the  work  they 
have  to  do  in  the  life  that  awaits  them. 

Concluding  the  oration,  "The  Study  of  Greek  as  a  College  Fetich," 
in  which  the  foregoing  is  an  example  of  many  similar  expressions, 


A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT  n 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr.,  scholar,  lawyer,  soldier,  railroad  presi- 
dent, overseer  of  Harvard,  conspicuous  member  of  one  of  America's 
most  illustrious  families,  said: 

I  shall  hold  that  I  was  not  myself  sacrificed  wholly  in 
vain  if  what  I  have  said  here  may  contribute  to  so  shape  the 
policy  of  Harvard  that  it  will  not  much  longer  use  its  pro- 
digious influence  toward  indirectly  closing  for  its  students, 
as  it  closed  for  me,  the  avenues  to  modern  life  and  the  foun- 
tains of  living  thought. 

Such  were  the  views  of  a  graduate  of  the  first  college  in  America, 
as  he  looked  back  over  thirty  years  of  a  most  active  life.  The  ora- 
tion created  something  of  a  sensation  in  the  educational  world  of 
America  at  the  time  and  started  something  of  a  revolution  in  the 
older  colleges  in  the  way  of  adjusting  themselves  to  the  conditions  of 
the  modern  world. 

This  University,  from  necessity,  was  compelled  to  place  the  prac- 
tical in  the  foreground  of  its  instruction.  It  needed  no  revolution 
within  itself  to  become  abreast  with  conditions  as  they  existed  in  the 
last  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

Let  me  not  be  understood  as  favoring  a  sacrifice  of  everything 
else  for  the  practical.  The  college  student  of  today  needs  as  much, 
if  not  more  than  ever,  a  grasp  upon  something  of  the  ideal.  He 
should  not,  of  course,  be  turned  out  a  mere  machine,  capable 
only  of  transforming  a  maximum  amount  of  the  raw  material  into 
the  finished  product  within  a  minimum  of  time.  He  is  not  to  be 
made  an  automaton.  He  needs  to  acquire  a  taste  for  the  best  in 
literature;  he  requires  a  knowledge  of  history,  and  it  is  his  duty  to 
know  something  of  the  science  of  government.  He  stands  always  in 
pressing  need  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  own  language  and  he 
ought  to  be  acquainted  with  one  or  more  foreign  languages,  such  as 
French,  German,  and  Spanish.  He  wants  an  education  that  will  not 
only  fit  him  for  success  in  his  chosen  vocation,  but  one  which  as  well 
will  enable  him  to  fulfil  his  obligation  to  society. 

I  believe  this  University  today  comes  as  near  fulfilling  the 
requirements  of  a  modern  American  university,  so  far  as  the  needs 
of 'the  great  majority  of  students  are  concerned,  as  does  most  of  our 
best  colleges,  and  nearer,  even,  than  some. 

It  is  true  we  haven't  the  wealth,  or  the  name,  or  the  numbers  of 
students  or  faculty,  but  we  have  the  same  access  to  the  knowledge 
which  the  world  has  acquired  up  to  this  time  as  has  any  other 
similar  institution.  All  colleges  and  all  universities  must  draw  from 
the  same  general  fountain  of  knowledge,  and  the  student  here  can 
drink  it  in  under  a  clearer  sky,  in  a  purer  atmosphere,  midst  the 
inspiration  of  mountains  and  valleys,  and  with  the  knowledge,  as  a 
spur  to  his  faculties,  that  all  about  him  lie  opportunities  for  the 
display  of  the  best  that  is  in  him. 

There  are  some  I  know  in  Nevada  who  are  still  under  the  spell 
of  the  enchantment  that  distance  and  a  name  lends  to  their  view. 
Some  who  it  would  seem  cannot  believe  that  they  have  within  their 
own  State  a  university  that  can  do  as  well,  if  not  better,  for  them 


12  A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT 

and  for  their  sons  and  daughters  as  can  be  done  elsewhere.  To  be  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  or  Yale  or  Princeton  or  Columbia,  or  of  any  of 
the  other  great  colleges,  which  have  done  so  much  to  mold  American 
thought  and  action,  does  not  of  itself  carry  any  guarantee  of  success. 
This  is  an  age  when  men  must  make  good  by  sheer  force  of  their 
ability  to  do  at  least  some  one  thing  well  and,  if  they  cannot  do  that, 
it  is  all  the  same  whether  their  sheepskins  bear  the  proud  name  of 
Columbia  or  the  modest  one  of  Nevada;  they  have  to  give  way  to  the 
men  who  can. 

The  University  doubtless  has  made  mistakes.  If  it  had  not  it 
would  hardly  be  able  to  qualify  as  a  university.  The  most  valuable 
lessons  of  life  sometimes  are  learned  through  mistakes,  and  what  is 
true  of  the  individual  is  true  of  a  university.  It  is  a  matter  of  keen 
personal  gratification  to  me  that  I  was  honored  with  an  invitation  to 
deliver  the  Commencement  address  upon  this  day,  which  also  marks 
the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  graduation  of  the  first  class,  of  which 
I  had  the  privilege  and  honor  of  constituting  thirty-three  and  a  third 
per  cent.  It  is,  however,  a  matter  of  far  greater  gratification  to  me 
as  a  citizen  of  Nevada,  who  has  followed  the  course  of  this  University 
from  its  beginning  at  Reno  until  the  present  day,  who  has  with  keen 
interest  marked  its  progress  and  observed  its  students  and  graduates, 
to  be  able  to  say  that  it  is  all  and  more  than  its  founders  hoped  for; 
that  it  is,  above  all  other  institutions  of  Nevada,  the  one  in  which  her 
citizens  can  have  the  greatest  pride;  that  it  has  reached  a  position  of 
power  and  influence  that  will  be  the  most  potent  force  in  aiding  the 
State  in  achieving  that  high  destiny  which  her  natural  resources  make 
possible.  All  honor  to  the  Regents,  to  our  benefactors,  to  the  faculty 
and  presidents  who  have  helped  to  make  this  University  what  it  is. 
Of  all  those  who  have  labored  for  this  University,  there  is  one  who 
towers  above  all  others;  one  to  whom  the  people  of  this  State  owe  a 
debt  of  gratitude  they  can  never  fully  pay.  I  speak  of  the  man  who 
has  been  the  guiding  spirit  of  this  University  for  the  past  seventeen 
years,  who  has  given  the  best  portion  of  his  life  to  its  upbuilding; 
whose  heart  and  soul  have  been  in  it;  who  has  brought  to  its  aid  a 
mind  of  learning,  of  experience  and  of  mature  judgment;  and  who 
has  impressed  upon  it  the  all-potential  force  of  a  noble  character — 
its  President. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  University,  of  its  history,  its  humble  begin- 
ning and  its  present  achievement.  There  is  but  one  thing  more  I 
wish  to  say  and  I  have  finished.  Every  university  must  do  some- 
thing more  than  be  a  mere  instrument  to  impart  book-learning.  It 
must  represent  the  highest  ideals  of  the  State  and  must  impress 
those  ideals  upon  the  State.  A  State  must  have  a  character  the 
same  as  an  individual  must  possess  character  if  he  is  to  achieve  the 
highest  success  his  natural  abilities  make  possible.  The  University 
must  fix  the  ideals  for  the  State.  They  may  be  higher  than  the 
State  can  reach  for  some  time,  but  the  ideals  must  exist  just  the 
same,  and  gradually  the  State  will  approach  them.  Most  of  us  here 
present  expect  to  live  and  die  in  Nevada.  We  want,  not  only  a  good 
name  for  ourselves,  but  we  want  our  State  to  have  a  good  name. 


A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT  13 

No  better  people  as  a  class  live  in  any  State  in  the  Union  than  live 
in  Nevada.  The  people  of  Nevada  possess  the  sterling  virtues. 
They  are  liberal  and  broad-minded,  and  I  hope  they  will  always 
remain  so.  I  believe  they  will.  People  cannot  live  in  a  country  like 
this  and  not  be  liberal  and  broad-minded.  The  air  is  too  free  and 
the  skies  are  too  clear  and  the  mountains  too  inspiring  for  a  people 
ever  to  become  narrow  and  bigoted.  But  we  don't  have  to  surren- 
der our  broad-mindedness  and  liberality  in  order  to  command  the 
respect  of  our  sister  Commonwealths. 

We  have  stricken  from  our  statutes  laws  that  were  a  withering 
blight  to  our  State  as  long  as  they  remained.  It  was  the  University 
ideal  that  did  it.  If  we  yet  have  other  laws  that  are  a  blot  upon  our 
State  character,  they,  too,  cannot  long  withstand  the  force  of  the 
University  ideal. 

Nevada  holds  a  unique  position  in  the  Sisterhood  of  States.  Her 
area  is  vast,  her  population  small,  her  industries  limited,  her  great- 
ness yet  to  be  achieved.  The  influences  which  make  hard  the  achieve- 
ment of  an  ideal  State  Government  are  not  powerful  here.  It  is  easier 
for  Nevada  to  possess  a  model  government  than  any  State  in  this 
Union.  While  we  are  building  our  State  from  the  material  side,  let 
us  look  to  it  that  our  laws  are  wise,  progressive  and  designed  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  a  great  and  prosperous  people.  We  have  been 
making  progress  in  this  respect,  and  we  are  entitled  to  be  classed  in 
the  front  rank  of  States  in  the  matter  of  legislation,  but  we  have  laws 
that  are  otherwise  as  well  as  wise.  One  great  trouble  with  this  coun- 
try, both  in  our  national  and  state  affairs,  is  that  we  are  laboring 
under  a  great  deal  of  undigested  legislation.  Government  is  a  science 
that  has  to  be  studied  the  same  as  any  other  science.  In  the  City  of 
Goldfield  is  a  mill  for  the  reduction  of  ore.  It  is  a  part  of  a  great 
system  that  modern  engineering  has  developed.  It  has  reduced  the 
waste  to  a  minimum.  It  is  the  result  of  investigation,  of  experiment, 
of  knowledge.  It  is  the  product  of  trained  minds  who  have  learned 
how  to  apply  natural  laws  to  the  operation  of  a  great  industry  so  as 
to  achieve  the  highest  degree  of  success.  There  is  little  or  no  waste 
there.  In  the  days  when  the  Comstock  was  producing  its  prodigious 
wealth,  a  great  portion  of  that  wealth  was  irretrievably  lost  because 
the  science  of  mining  had  not  reached  that  perfection  which  prevails 
today.  The  same  inviolable  laws  of  Nature  existed  then,  but  man 
had  not  yet  grasped  a  complete  knowledge  of  their  application. 
Statutory  laws  are  essentially  man-made,  and  are  not  capable  of  the 
perfection  of  natural  laws.  Their  true  basis,  however,  is  natural  law, 
for  they  control  man's  relationship  to  his  natural  environment.  The 
appalling  thing  in  government,  national,  state,  county  and  municipal, 
is  the  waste  we  see  in  life,  health  and  money,  either  because  of  lack 
of  law  or  the  wrong  kind  of  law  or  inability  to  administer  the  law  as 
it  is,  or  all  these  situations  combined.  The  one  great  defect  in  our 
whole  American  educational  system,  it  appears  to  me,  is  that  it  fails 
to  teach  the  youth  of  this  country  how  best  to  govern  themselves. 

We  insist  that  to  be  qualified  to  take  charge  of  a  small  school  in 
a  little  country  district  the  teacher  must  have  taken   a  course  of 


14  A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT 

study,  passed  an  examination,  and  have  received  a  certificate  of 
qualification  before  she  can  begin  to  direct  the  young  idea,  but 
when  it  comes  to  selecting  members  of  our  Legislatures,  or  men  to 
administer  the  intricate  affairs  of  government,  there  seems  now  to  be 
but  about  two  essential  requisites — does  he  stand  all  right  with  his 
party,  and  is  he  popular.  He  may  come  from  the  farm,  the  work- 
shop, or  the  office,  and  he  may  have  been  a  success  in  his  vocation; 
he  may  be  a  man  of  the  highest  personal  character,  but  he  may 
know,  and  usually  does  know,  comparatively  nothing  about  the 
political  duties  and  responsibilities  he  is  about  to  assume.  Try  as 
hard  as  he  will,  do  the  best  he  can,  he  often  fails  to  satisfy  either 
himself  or  the  public,  and  if  he  rises  to  the  full  grasp  of  his  position 
it  is  only  after  hard  study  and  unceasing  labor  to  qualify  himself  for 
his  position.  In  the  meantime,  if  the  public  receives  from  the  gov- 
ernment fifty  to  sixty  per  cent  of  efficiency,  it  is  doing  reasonably 
Mell,  all  things  considered. 

Now  the  fault  lies,  to  a  considerable  extent,  with  our  public 
school  system.  Our  schools  fail,  in  my  judgment,  in  the  first  instance 
to  actually  teach  the  rising  generation  the  responsibilities  of  citizen- 
ship. We  assume  that  if  a  pupil  goes  through  our  public  schools  he 
has  absorbed  enough  from  the  general  atmosphere  of  the  schoolroom 
to  thoroughly  fit  him  for  citizenship,  without  any  particular  instruc- 
tion therein  whatever.  We  constantly  hear  of  the  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities of  citizenship,  and  none  will  deny  that  there  are  such.  What 
we  need  is  some  sort  of  specific  definition  of  them  and  then  to  have 
them  taught  in  our  schools.  When  this  is  done  the  professional  poli- 
tician who  is  in  politics  for  the  loaves  and  fishes  will  be  out  of  a  job. 
The  colleges  and  universities  of  this  country  must  come  to  the  full 
realization  of  their  responsibilities — that  it  is  just  as  much  their  duty 
to  train  men  for  a  profession  of  statecraft  as  it  is  to  train  men  to 
become  civil  or  mining  or  electrical  engineers,  to  become  doctors,  or 
lawyers,  or  ministers.  Everyone  in  this  country  who  receives  an  edu- 
cation at  public  expense,  should  be  required  to  pursue  a  course  in  the 
fundamentals  of  citizenship  and  government,  and  in  addition  there 
should  be  schools  of  higher  learning  for  those  who  wish  to  go  into 
politics  as  a  life  profession. 

When  our  schools  and  colleges  come  to  a  realization  that  this  is 
a  matter  for  them  to  deal  with,  that  it  is  a  responsibility  they  must 
assume,  then  we  will  begin  to  see  the  day  when  we  will  have  in  this 
country  ninety  and  ninety-eight  per  cent  efficiency  in  governmental 
affairs,  the  same  as  we  see  it  in  great  mining  enterprises,  like  those 
at  Goldfield,  or  at  Tonopah,  or  at  Ely,  as  we  see  it  in  the  conduct  of 
great  railroad  systems  and  great  business  enterprises  of  every  char- 
acter. Whatever  there  is  to  be  done  in  America  our  schools  and  col- 
leges must  train  men  to  do.  This  is  an  age  which  requires  efficiency 
in  every  avenue  of  private  endeavor.  Why  should  it  not  require  the 
same  degree  of  efficiency  in  public  affairs?  Such  efficiency  will  be 
demanded  as  soon  as  the  public  schools  teach  the  requirements  of 
citizenship  as  it  now  teaches  hygiene,  and  as  soon  as  the  colleges 


A  RETROSPECT  AND  A  PROSPECT  15 

and  universities  train  students  in  the    science  of  government  as  it 
now  trains  them  in  engineering  or  in  medicine. 

The  public  schools  and  colleges  everywhere  must  meet  this 
demand  upon  them,  and  when  they  have  done  so  they  will  have  ful- 
filled their  obUgation  to  the  people  who  maintain  them.  It  should 
be  one  of  the  highest  ideals  of  every  American  college  and  university 
to  give  to  all  its  graduates,  regardless  of  what  profession  or  calling 
they  may  intend  to  follow,  a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  duties 
they  owe  to  society  as  private  citizens,  and  to  give  to  those  who  con- 
template entering  upon  a  public  life  the  same  foundation  for  efficiency 
therein  as  it  gives  to  those  who  enter  fields  of  private  endeavor. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  let  us  this  day  renew  our  fealty  to  this 
University  which  was  conceived  in  the  wisdom  of  the  founders  of 
our  State,  which  has  steadfastly  pressed  onward  through  years  of 
trial  and  adversity  until  today  it  proudly  wears  the  laurel  wreath  of 
victory.  More  especially  let  us,  the  alumni  of  this  University,  our 
Alma  Mater,  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  much  that  we  are  or  hope 
to  be,  ever  be  zealous  to  aid  her  in  her  lofty  ambition  to  extend  her 
powers  for  good  into  ever  broader  fields  of  usefulness.  May  this 
University  continue  to  grow  in  powder  and  prestige  until  by  virtue  of 
a  knowledge  of  its  true  worth  its  name  will  be  a  synonym  everywhere 
for  work  well  done. 

o 


CARSON  CITY,  NEVADA 
State  Printing  Office,      :     Joe  Farnsworth,  Superintendent 

1911 


